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NOW
AVAILABLE!
In an effort to expand our outreach to the
masses who are searching for and needing
Messianic instruction, we are now offering
online Bible studies, delivered by TNN
Online editor J.K. McKee. Every Wednesday a
new teaching which deals with pertinent
topics for today’s Messianic Believers will
be presented. For the most part, these
studies will be focusing on specific books
of the Bible, but may from time to time deal
with critical subjects as well.
Click
here to access audio teachings
Starting 04 November 2009:
Acts 15 Bible Study
There is some shifting going on in today’s
Messianic world as it concerns the unity
that Jewish and non-Jewish Believers are to
experience in Messiah Yeshua, and whether or
not non-Jewish Believers are really called
to obey God’s Torah. Much of this
controversy is not based in an objective,
historically conscious reading of the
Scriptures—but instead in shifting
ministerial alliances and religious
politicking. The answer is not going to be
found in evaluating who-said-what, but will
be found in going to the Biblical text and
in accurately evaluating what the trajectory
of God’s Word is.
Around two decades after the ascension of
Yeshua into Heaven, the message of salvation
began being spread to the Mediterranean
world outside the Land of Israel, and many
from the nations eagerly embraced it. Was
this just a bi-product of the message going
to the Jewish people in the Diaspora, or was
it the Father’s Divine plan? What was to
take place with the new, non-Jewish
Believers? Did they have to be circumcised
and become Jewish proselytes? Or were all
of the Believers, regardless of their
ethnicity, to come together in a new
environment rooted in the completed work of
God’s Son? The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15
assembled to consider these issues, and
fairly ruled on what was to be done.
Too many of today’s Messianics refer to Acts
15 without a great deal of consideration for
the context of the events as they took place
in the First Century C.E. We often assume
things that we should not assume, and we
overlook things that we should not be
overlooking. This study will critically
examine Acts 15 in detail, be engaged with
current Acts scholarship, and will also try
to properly compare and contrast the ancient
setting of the Jerusalem Council with some
of what we see going on in the emerging
Messianic movement today and how we can
learn from these things.
JANUARY 2010
 Dear
Friends:
Well folks, it is
finally the year 2010 and the new decade. What is in store for
this decade: many positive changes to our Messianic faith
community. I believe it will be the time that we truly do put the
issues of the past behind us, and enter into our own as a force
of holiness and righteousness. I love how The Message
renders Hebrews 12:1, which captures what we have in store:
"we'd better get on with it...start running--and never quit! No
extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins." Indeed, it is high time
that we all "get on with it" and begin moving ahead!
Getting on with
what needs to be accomplished is not going to happen within a
few short months. We all have to learn to think differently, and
recognize that methods of reasoning and communication that
failed in the 2000s need not continue with us into the 2010s.
Cutting corners with our Biblical Studies, doing what is
minimally required, and tailoring our words for what is popular
and not what is right--are all things that need to be left in
the previous decade. Instead, they need to be replaced with
thorough research, a commitment to do sound work, and tempering
difficult things to be said with some empathy and patience.
Don't worry,
that does not mean we cannot take a vacation now and then. The
last week of the month I went to Universal Studios here in
Orlando!
In 2009 I actually
saw my list of items to be completed shorten up, but only for a
moment. The main project on my list for the next few years will
be seeing all our publications printed in paperback, and as we
work through current publications--ideas for new publications
are stirred! We have about five or six books that need to be
readied on our immediate agenda, which are planned for the first
half of this year. One of the main staples of TNN Press has been
the book
The
New Testament Validates Torah. As it is
among those being readied, it is going to see some major
expansions, directly benefiting from the studies conducted in
our weekly
Wednesday Night program. This month's lead
article, a paper which I promised you last year, gives a small
preview as to the kind of additions this publication will have.
I have written on one of the most quoted verses of the Bible by
today's Messianic Believers, Matthew 5:17-19, in "Has
the Law Been Fulfilled?" I think you will
learn a great deal, especially as I engage directly with a
variety of commentators and theologians.
This month, our
Bible study on Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council will conclude.
I know this has been very useful for those of you who have been
hearing various things about the Torah, Jewish and non-Jewish
Believers, and a few of the controversies going on in the Messianic
world. Indeed, my own knowledge of the Jerusalem Conference and
Apostolic decree have been refined, and focused for what we need
to be considering over the next ten years. More than anything
else, much of what we have seen recently is the direct result of
how there has been a strong lack of expressing value for our
shared Jewish and Christian spiritual and theological heritage.
There has been almost no Messianic teaching on making someone
else's needs more important than your own (Philippians 2:3-4).
It is my hope and prayer that TNN Online and Outreach Israel
Ministries can make a more concentrated impact in these areas,
as the Messianic movement we serve matures toward adulthood!
Until next
month...
J.K.
McKee
Website Update Archives
(2005-present)
NEW/FEATURED FAQs FOR JANUARY 2010
MCHUEY BLOG, & YOUTUBE:
Shaken Leadership
01.28.2010
January 2010 Editor's
Update 01.28.2010
Acts 15 Concluding
Thoughts 01.27.2010
A Place Where Everyone Can
Belong
01.18.2010
The Need for Mutual
Submission
01.07.2010
PREVIOUSLY FEATURED ARTICLES FOR 2010:
FEBRUARY:
Is Messiah the Termination
of the Torah? (PDF)
JANUARY:
Matthew 5:17-19: Has the
Law Been Fulfilled?
(PDF)
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